Transfer Portal

[stupefied]

What farfromgeneva said about the poor financial status of many colleges is rather disturbing. Perhaps mismanagement at some but also systematic.

. Basic that nations need their people to be educated .Essential that an education system functions well, colleges are certainly more important than the cruise industry surviving .

Govt insuring funding lines is a bandaid not a solution. Not a fan of MMT or socialism but something has to be figured that
makes a quality education available to all and not at a cost that is prohibitive . Financial aid helps but middle and upper mid class households are also struggling with affordability .

Maybe this pandemic will show that a fair portion of a quality education can be deffectively elivered on line with reduced costs and to a wider student base.


Understand that not everyone is of the same intellect but the ability to pass a course rather than ace it should not disallow access to same education.


On another note ,IMO Ivies held to principles ,Wisconsin AD has it right, the NCAA got it wrong.

Everything needed to be put in its proper perspective.

[laxpert]

You think large companies struggle to cut legacy fixed costs? How do you think it’s going to be for schools that have grown the last 20-30yrs from say, 1,500-2,000 students to 2,000-3,000 students like a lot have, built up personnel, infrastructure etc. Suddenly their run rate top line goes down by even 10% it’ll be a struggle and only the best managers or those with cash will be in solid footing.

Forbes has several articles with detailed analysis using several metrics to determine a grade. If a school grades out a D it's got some holes in the dike.

I recall a DIII coach telling me " We exist to make the college money, reaching my applicant, admissions and fund raising goals is just as important as our record on the field.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoud ... 8280e561c4

[youthathletics]

On another note ,IMO Ivies held to principles ,Wisconsin AD has it right, the NCAA got it wrong.

Everything needed to be put in its proper perspective.

Agreed

[AreaLax]

Penn State does have one of the best business schools in the country. Don't know if that's his major or what is, but Penn State's def got some legit very good grad school programs. So he'd be staying home and at a good school, if that's what he wanted

Dishing to Mac O'keefe has to be attractive to a player like Sowers. As a Terp fan, I want no part of seeing that...

Wouldn’t Cuse be in the running? They do have Pat March who just came from Princeton.

[jrn19]

Penn State does have one of the best business schools in the country. Don't know if that's his major or what is, but Penn State's def got some legit very good grad school programs. So he'd be staying home and at a good school, if that's what he wanted

Dishing to Mac O'keefe has to be attractive to a player like Sowers. As a Terp fan, I want no part of seeing that...

Wouldn’t Cuse be in the running? They do have Pat March who just came from Princeton.

Pretty much every B1G/ACC is "in the running", they're all going to reach out and try and get him. But looking at the schools with the best fit of academics + chance of winning, in addition to where he's from and who he was interested in during recruiting, I think Duke and Georgetown are probably the top 2, then Penn State and then I think it's probably scattershot from there.

[bison137]

You think large companies struggle to cut legacy fixed costs? How do you think it’s going to be for schools that have grown the last 20-30yrs from say, 1,500-2,000 students to 2,000-3,000 students like a lot have, built up personnel, infrastructure etc. Suddenly their run rate top line goes down by even 10% it’ll be a struggle and only the best managers or those with cash will be in solid footing.

Forbes has several articles with detailed analysis using several metrics to determine a grade. If a school grades out a D it's got some holes in the dike.

I recall a DIII coach telling me " We exist to make the college money, reaching my applicant, admissions and fund raising goals is just as important as our record on the field.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoud ... 8280e561c4

A number of the C's have significant problems as well.

[AreaLax]

MICHAEL SOWERS: 'I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD COME TO THIS POINT'

“I have told coaches that I am going to be very disorganized, especially in the next couple days, because I never considered a Plan B,” Sowers said. “I never thought that I would need one.”

Sowers does not know the exact number of coaches who reached out to him but did say the outpouring was huge...

“Great academics, obviously, but I want to go win a national championship,” he said. “That’s been my goal since I’ve been at Princeton. I want to win a national championship and bring one to a group of guys that is a special locker room. That’s what we had at Princeton. I want to provide that spark to a locker room and fit into a culture where I can put a program in the best position to win a national championship.”

[Comeonman]

Assume he is a smart guy. Princeton grad. He will do the analysis on which team can win it all. He knows he’ll direct the offense wherever he goes. He needs shooters and finishers. He needs the ball, so he needs a good face off guy or two. He needs low turnovers and good clearing. He needs a good defense to win games. So who is he looking at in depth? Penn State has the shooter and the face off guy. And low tuition in state. And it’s close to home. But my money is on GTown. Also close to home. Also has a shooter. And a finisher. And the best D in the country, virtually all coming back. And it was his second choice out of HS, so there’s a connection with the coach. And it’s a team on the rise. He’ll only make it better. For years to come.

[Homer]

Forbes has several articles with detailed analysis using several metrics to determine a grade. If a school grades out a D it's got some holes in the dike.

I recall a DIII coach telling me " We exist to make the college money, reaching my applicant, admissions and fund raising goals is just as important as our record on the field.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoud ... 8280e561c4

Very interesting stuff. There are six schools with D1 mlax programs getting a "D" grade (keep in mind this is all *pre*-Covid).

Canisius 1.49
Detroit Mercy 1.48
Bellarmine 1.47
Robert Morris 1.37
Mount St. Mary's 1.35
Jacksonville 0.82

St. Bonaventure, Merrimack, Drexel, Hartford, and Siena are in the C-minus group. Note that this is a list of private institutions only. LIU appears for some reason not to be listed.

(Notice that a lot of the schools getting lower grades are Catholic. I don't have a clear sense whether that's because those institutions simply are in that bad of a shape, or whether the methodology is understating their real resources by not fully accounting for whatever ways they might be backstopped by the Church financially.)

The article doesn't provide a detailed breakout for each school. But there's no way that number for Jacksonville isn't deeply troubling.

Jacksonville's 0.82 is the 5th-lowest score for fiscal soundness out of all 933 institutions they rated. It's by far the lowest in all D1: next-worst is Rider at 1.05; third-worst brings you all the way up to... Mount St. Mary's at 1.35.

By way of comparison, Cincinnati Christian (1.01) and Concordia-Portland (0.89) had already announced plans to close since that ranking was published but before the plague hit. MacMurray (1.03) is the one college I know of that's already confirmed it won't survive COVID-19 and is ending operations after this term. To see a D1 institution keeping that kind of company is frankly a bit astonishing. And Forbes apparently considered each of those schools' financials to be *not quite as bad* as the situation at Jacksonville.

It's possible the Forbes number is misleading in this case for one reason or another -- I'd be grateful for any Jacksonville folks' take on how they see the facts on the ground.

Taking the ranking at face value, though, it looks as if this is an institution that was already treading right up to the edge of nonviability even before the shutdown. I don't want to say anything too alarmist just on the basis of one unadorned number. But you too can put two and two together: the combination of underlying weakness + economic shock raises serious questions about the way forward for at least one D1 member.

[JHUFan]

Reposting my note from the Hopkins thread here:

I would think Hopkins has to be at the very least on the radar (if not one of the final contenders) for all Ivy players in this situation (i.e. Sowers and Morril) simply because of the academic reputation. Who works their butt off at Yale or Princeton for 4 years only to settle for a degree from a clearly inferior academic institution (i.e. Penn State) with no consideration for Hopkins, which is easily the best academic option left out there with a relevant lacrosse team with Duke being the only exception.

[Laxrat120]

Assume he is a smart guy. Princeton grad. He will do the analysis on which team can win it all. He knows he’ll direct the offense wherever he goes. He needs shooters and finishers. He needs the ball, so he needs a good face off guy or two. He needs low turnovers and good clearing. He needs a good defense to win games. So who is he looking at in depth? Penn State has the shooter and the face off guy. And low tuition in state. And it’s close to home. But my money is on GTown. Also close to home. Also has a shooter. And a finisher. And the best D in the country, virtually all coming back. And it was his second choice out of HS, so there’s a connection with the coach. And it’s a team on the rise. He’ll only make it better. For years to come.

Georgetown D is far from best in the country. Look who they played they may have been the most overrated team this year.

[10stone5]

Reposting my note from the Hopkins thread here:

I would think Hopkins has to be at the very least on the radar (if not one of the final contenders) for all Ivy players in this situation (i.e. Sowers and Morril) simply because of the academic reputation. Who works their butt off at Yale or Princeton for 4 years only to settle for a degree from a clearly inferior academic institution (i.e. Penn State) with no consideration for Hopkins, which is easily the best academic option left out there with a relevant lacrosse team with Duke being the only exception.

Sowers would be going for a grad degree, I’d think.

PSU grad degrees most definitely are not inferior.

[Laxxal22]

Reposting my note from the Hopkins thread here:

I would think Hopkins has to be at the very least on the radar (if not one of the final contenders) for all Ivy players in this situation (i.e. Sowers and Morril) simply because of the academic reputation. Who works their butt off at Yale or Princeton for 4 years only to settle for a degree from a clearly inferior academic institution (i.e. Penn State) with no consideration for Hopkins, which is easily the best academic option left out there with a relevant lacrosse team with Duke being the only exception.

I'm not sure how attractive Hopkins would look to top Ivy and Patriot League guys.

1. These guys just spent 3.5 years on Ivy League campuses having an Ivy League experience. The chance of a year of big-school experience at UNC, UVA, PSU would seem a lot more appealing than a quasi Ivy League social scene again.
2. Hop has tradition, and you can sell high school kids on tradition because they have four years to immerse themselves in it. Those with one year to ring chase go to programs that are realistically already in the hunt before they arrive. Hop isn't. The academic rep won't matter too much because ACC/Big Ten schools have good options, and AA caliber players from Ivy & PL schools will have great job prospects (assuming roughly a 3.3 or better college GPA) regardless of the grad program.
3. What is a 22 year old's perception of Petro? Being the guy who got the best of Gary Gait doesn't mean a ton to kids born a decade after that game was played. At this point do star players see a top coach and legend of the game or just a big scary dude?

I could see Hop being in play for Balti/MD guys looking to get back close to home for post school life, or perhaps guys with good high school/club buddies currently playing for the Blue Jays, but I don't think the school experience, coach, and state of the program are all that attractive for the top dominoes in the portal.

[Njlaxx11]

Sowers to Nova is my bet.

[dek]

Sowers to Nova is my bet.

Would Sowers make them a legit NC contender next year? I don’t know who they return enough to judge. If he’s serious about that point, it may shorten his list considerably.

[tech37]

Penn State does have one of the best business schools in the country. Don't know if that's his major or what is, but Penn State's def got some legit very good grad school programs. So he'd be staying home and at a good school, if that's what he wanted

Dishing to Mac O'keefe has to be attractive to a player like Sowers. As a Terp fan, I want no part of seeing that...

Wouldn’t Cuse be in the running? They do have Pat March who just came from Princeton.

True that March was his coach (OC) at Princeton but I'd be shocked if he chose Cuse. PSU, Nova, Duke, seem logical. But then again, I was certain Ierlan was going to Cornell, so who knows?

[thetruth]

Sowers to Nova is my bet.

Very good call IMO.
Think Sowers to Villanova makes a ton of sense. They have a very good returning team. Could also see Aitken suiting up there after football season. Given everything going on in the world, taking that grad year close to home may be pretty appealing. Also, Nova has a lot of 1-year grad program options. If their schedule remains consistent, they don't play Princeton, but play Yale, Penn and Brown who he's 2-7 against during his career and 0-6 in the last 2 full seasons so I'm sure he'd like another shot.

[Laxxal22]

Sowers to Nova is my bet.

Very good call IMO.
Think Sowers to Villanova makes a ton of sense. They have a very good returning team. Could also see Aitken suiting up there after football season.

If this happens and Kirst comes back Nova would be a pretty scary team. I'm enjoying the different hypotheticals. Next year's Face-Off magazine will be a collector's item.

[hofpride]

one would hope that the only reason for going to grad school is to not just to play one more year of lax - I would say grad school in this economy and this day and age is pretty much a must

[GBMan]

Can't vouch for this...but it was posted on Twitter a few hours ago.

Dave Franklin
@DaveFranklin97
Michael Sowers has entered the transfer portal and is rumored to be eyeing a 5th year at the Syracuse where he will be reunited with former Princeton Offensive Coordinator, Pat March while pursuing a graduate degree from the Newhouse School of Communications.